The Dancing Years (film)

The Dancing Years

Argentine poster
Directed by Harold French
Produced by Warwick Ward
Written by Warwick Ward
Jack Whittingham
Based on the play by Ivor Novello
Starring Dennis Price
Gisèle Préville
Patricia Dainton
Cinematography Stephen Dade
Production
company
Release dates
 1950
Running time
 98 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Box office £205,868 (UK)[1]

The Dancing Years is a 1950 musical British film based on the musical by Ivor Novello.[2]

Production

Dennis Price was loaned by the Rank Organisation to ABPC to play the lead role.[3]

Plot

A pre-First World War love affair between a young composer (Dennis Price) and a star of the musical stage (Giselle Preville) falters through a misunderstanding which causes her to leave him and marry a prince (Anthony Nicholls).[4]

Cast

Critical reception

In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote, "the British obviously spared no expense in bringing Ivor Novello's "The Dancing Years" to the screen. For, in the operetta, which came to the Little Carnegie on Saturday, Vienna, before and after the first World War, was never lovelier than it is in the panchromatic shades of Technicolor; the singers, ballet corps, sets and staging are as handsome as any conjured up in a fairy tale; and the scenarists have not missed a cliché in recounting the bittersweet saga of lovelorn artists' lives...Mr. Novello's music is pleasing but his plot is painfully transparent...Dennis Price, as the minor-league Johann Strauss of the piece, ages gracefully and is appropriately glum throughout the proceedings. As the operetta star and his opposite number, Giselle Preville is attractive, wears the clothes of the period (1910-1926) with distinction and does well vocally by a lilting number titled, "Waltz of My Heart." One of Miss Preville's lines, however, is not quite pointed. "Vienna", she says at the beginning of this yarn, "needs a new composer." Judging by "The Dancing Years", Vienna could use a new story." [5]

Trade papers called the film a "notable box office attraction" in British cinemas in 1950.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p493
  2. ↑ The Dancing Years at BFI
  3. ↑ "NOVELLO HIT TO BE SCREENED.". The Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 23 April 1949. p. 3 Supplement: SUNDAY MAGAZINE. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "The Dancing Years | Film review and movie reviews". Radio Times. 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  5. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (1951-01-29). "Movie Review – The Dancing Years – THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; 'The Company She Keeps,' With Lizabeth Scott Playing a Parole Officer, Arrives at Loew's Criterion At the Little Carnegie At the Stanley". NY Times. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  6. ↑ Robert Murphy, Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48 2003 p212


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